May 15, 2013

Students love to connect with other students for global
learning projects, but sometimes it’s difficult to find the perfect
collaboration partner. You might want to look into ePals, since it could be
called the standard when it comes to global communication. It’s easy to get
started with global projects with ePals.
All you have to do is to fill in the form, and you are ready to use this free
global learning community. You’ll get help finding classroom matches according
to the language you wish to use (English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, or
Chinese) and the age level of your students (1-7, 8-10, 11-13, 13-16, and 17+).
You can create your own collaborative project or join projects started by other
teachers and students. ePals’ Schoolsafe eMail, Web 2.0 tools, and resources
are available to help you and your students connect and interact with other
classes around the world.ePals sponsors
and partners include National Geographic, the Smithsonian, and Cobblestone & Cricket magazine. To
learn more about ePals, watch the video available on the ePals opening page.

September 03, 2012

Edudemic says that smart
phones make a difference in learning, since when using them. students spend
more time studying, use app flashcards and quizzes to help them, and are more
likely to track their progress in learning. In order to be able to use smart
phones, iPads, and other digital devices for learning, students look to apps
and are will to pay up to $7.80 for a learning app. Edudemic lists apps that
are valuable tools for learning (some for teachers, some for students, and some
for both) and divides them into the following four categories: Social Learning,
Learning, Lesson Planning and Tools, and Useful Tools. Some of the recommended
apps are: Khan Academy, StudySync, Educreations, ePals, Ning, Pinterest, Skype,
QR Codes, Google Docs, Evernote, Twitter, Google Education, Popplet, and
AudioBoo. Go to Edudemic for the complete list and links to the apps.

March 17, 2012

Polycom, Inc. offers a database of programs, which are available from content providers such as the Smithsonian, historic sites, Presidential sites, NASA, National Archives, zoos, PBS, and universities. You can search for the programs you want by selecting from categories like Free Programs, New Programs, HD Programs, Award-Winning Programs, and Programs for Teachers. Examples of some of the 300+ free programs are “DNA and Your Health” (WVIZ/PBS ideastream), “A House Divided: Civil War” (Smithsonian American Art Museum), “Analyzing Primary Sources” (Library of Congress), “Rainforest Connection Live”, “Time Travel with Fossils (Badlands National Park), “Videoconferencing 101 Teacher Tutorial (Smithsonian American Art Museum) and “Around the World in Eighty Bones” (Canadian Space Agency).

March 09, 2012

Julie D. Ramsay’s Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?(Stenhouse Publishers) offers ideas for collaborating in class and online for Grades 3-8. It’s available as an ebook for $18 and paperback for $20 plus $5 shipping. The activities in the book, including publishing podcasts and writing digital stories, target getting students “fired up for writing” through the use of communication and digital tools. Ramsey suggests picking the tool or tools that work best for you and your students and then putting your students to work collaborating with others around the world and publishing their own work. Why not check out an online preview of the book?

August 23, 2011

Have you tried Skype in the Classroom? It’s an online educational area that helps teachers find partner teachers and classrooms. Real-time chats with other classes is exciting for students, but teachers often have a difficult time finding partner teachers in other parts of the United States and world. With Skype in the Classroom, you can join another project or set one up for others to join, you can use Skype’s resource library and add your own resources to it, and you can find teachers throughout the world who have interests and needs similar to yours.

April 28, 2010

Microsoft Corporation and ePals will be working together to
“deliver communications, collaborations and digital learning technologies to
the global education market” through a program called Microsoft Live@edu.
Calendar and email options will be available. Later the features of Microsoft’s on the Web version of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Web Apps will be added to the collaboration.
Live@edu is free to educators and students.For additional information on the agreement between Microsoft and ePals,
read Christopher Dawson’s article, ePals
+ Microsoft Live@Edu=K-12 Game Changer.